*Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown, who announced her candidacy in March 2009, withdrew seven months later to focus instead on her re-election campaign. <ref>[http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/daveharding/C2qq ''Progress Ohio'' "Announcement: Marilyn Brown for Secretary of State" 26 March, 2009]</ref><ref>[http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/519569.html?nav=5008 ''The Review'' "Marilyn Brown withdraws from Secretary of State race" 5 Oct. 2009]</ref>

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*Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown, who announced her candidacy in March 2009, withdrew seven months later to focus instead on her re-election campaign.<ref>[http://www.progressohio.org/page/community/post/daveharding/C2qq ''Progress Ohio'' "Announcement: Marilyn Brown for Secretary of State" 26 March, 2009]</ref><ref>[http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/519569.html?nav=5008 ''The Review'' "Marilyn Brown withdraws from Secretary of State race" 5 Oct. 2009]</ref>

*State Representative for the 93rd Congressional District [[Jennifer Garrison]], who launched her campaign in August 2009, dropped out of the race on January 30, 2010, believing the criticism from State [[Democratic]] leaders over her conservative stance on social issues distracted from the campaign. <ref>[http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/?p=8653 ''Glass City Jungle'' "Jennifer Garrison announces campaign for Ohio Secretary of State" 3 Aug. 2009]</ref><ref>[http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/519214.html?nav=5002 ''Marietta Times'' "Garrison envisions politics in her future" 2 Feb. 2010]</ref>

*State Representative for the 93rd Congressional District [[Jennifer Garrison]], who launched her campaign in August 2009, dropped out of the race on January 30, 2010, believing the criticism from State [[Democratic]] leaders over her conservative stance on social issues distracted from the campaign. <ref>[http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/?p=8653 ''Glass City Jungle'' "Jennifer Garrison announces campaign for Ohio Secretary of State" 3 Aug. 2009]</ref><ref>[http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/519214.html?nav=5002 ''Marietta Times'' "Garrison envisions politics in her future" 2 Feb. 2010]</ref>

May 4, 2010 primary election

Candidates

Drop outs

Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown, who announced her candidacy in March 2009, withdrew seven months later to focus instead on her re-election campaign.[41][42]

State Representative for the 93rd Congressional District Jennifer Garrison, who launched her campaign in August 2009, dropped out of the race on January 30, 2010, believing the criticism from State Democratic leaders over her conservative stance on social issues distracted from the campaign. [43][44]

Other candidates

Controversies

In 2010, O'Shaughnessy received the endorsement and, most likely, the financial assistance of the Secretary of State Project, a below-the-radar 527 political organization whose purpose is to "wrestling control of the country from the Republican Party" through the process of "removing their political operatives from deciding who can vote and whose votes will count," namely the office of Secretary of State in many cases. [68][69]

Tea Party

It wasn't long after Husted aired his first television campaign advertisement, the premier political commercial in Ohio's 2010 secretary of state election, that the supposed conservative candidate drew the ire of the state's tea party movement. The thirty-second ad, which starts off with the image of a waving “Don’t tread on me” flag, a common sight at tea party protests across the country, was roundly scorned by conservative tea partiers, among them the Ohio Liberty Council and the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots, two of the major tea party organizations in the state. [70]

Ralph King, who heads the Cleveland Patriots, called out Husted over his identification as a member of the political movement, arguing that "the only relation Jon Husted would have with the Tea Party is if he would have been driving the British ship into Boston Harbor."[71] Another tea party leader, Chris Littleton of the Ohio Liberty Council, said that the Ohio state senator lacks the "street cred" to be fully accepted by state tea party activists, specifically noting his support for the renewal of the Third Frontier legislation, which would allocate $700 million to fund efforts by Ohio-based companies and research institutions to develop high-tech products. [72][73]